Hospitality
by Lolligaggin
Summary: While Ino tends to the sick Naruto she amends her own personal struggles. NaruIno. AU.
1. Chapter 1: Only Temporary

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto

A/N: I wanted to try writing something a little different. The chapters will be short but I will update a little more frequently, how is that for equivalent exchange?

I'm going to have to mention this: Ino is a little different here and the story is carried out in a much more sardonic manner, but I made sure to imprint that unforgettable fluff, because where in the world would we be without it? This is my first REAL attempt at humor, I hope it went well. Reviews and criticisms are always welcomed! Thank you!

* * *

Ino waved, reaching over the counter to emphasize her gesture. A bright smile lit up her features as she watched the elder man being pushed by the nurse, luckily away from her. Even as the man turned to wave back, he held his wicked stare, his eyes traveling rather quickly from Ino's face towards her…

As soon as the swinging doors settled in front of her she let out an exhausted groan, sinking slowly onto the counter in front of her. "Old dirty bastard," she murmured against the cold counter top. What followed afterwards was a trail of profanity that was left unheard save for the young woman who stood next to her.

"That's quite attractive, Ino." Sakura rolled her eyes, nudging her friend with her hip. "Keep laying there, I'm sure no one will notice."

Ino reluctantly lifted her head, her long bangs partially covering the tired scowl she shot in Sakura's direction. "My bad, I just can't seem to deal with lousy patients the way you can."

Sakura chuckled softly, latching her small hand onto Ino's wrist. Encouraged by Sakura's soft tug, Ino pushed herself off the desk, sighing while doing so. "This is just temporary-"

"Right" Ino asserted, "temporary." She nodded in Sakura's direction, watching as her friend smiled in agreement. Relief easily washed itself onto Ino. As much as sheutterly _despised _being the temporary medical-nin having Sakura around was not always a bad thing.

"Right," With a nod Sakura pressed a square manila envelope into Ino's hand before promptly turning on her heel to walk towards the far end of the room, heading towards the direction of the hallway.

Correction-

"What-!" Ino felt her teeth grind together in her sudden flair of rage. _That Sakura_, she fumed, _right when I was complimenting her_! She stared angrily at the object in her hands, quite hesitant to open it. "Sakura, my shift is over!"

"What is that?" called a voice that echoed from afar, "Is that an EMS call? Gee, I better take this!" The voice dwindled into nothing more than a mere whisper as Ino faced a now empty foyer.

Ino grimaced, creasing the envelope with her bare hands. This was only temporary, she reminded herself one last time. Right.

Ino Yamanaka, age 19. Like any young Konoha woman her age, she was simply_ enthralled_ with working temporarily under the Hokage, Tsunade-sama herself. Except she wasn't; not that she wasn't attracted to medicine, she was fascinated by it, but the infirmary was only a hub of ailing people in her perspective. As much as she enjoyed healing others, she always felt helping out _there_ was far better than helping in _here_. She was meant to be in the middle of the battles, not wiping off the mess left behind.

She was an essential part of the usual trio of nin sent for missions of any like. Yet, because of the sudden shortage of medical nin (or the more accurate reason: Tsunade simply loved to fuck with her) she was stuck here. Again. A place she was all too familiar with only years ago during her schooling years. Yet, nothing has changed, the same old dirty bastards and the same young injured ungrateful nins. Although it was only her fourth day in this temporary 'mission', as Tsunade jokingly put it, she was more than anxious to leave-or completely shred the uniform offered to all working nurses in this hub of misery-

er, medical center.

Anyway, as Ino casually stomped her way towards the room number she found written on the front of the envelope she dwelled further into her seething thoughts.

Why in the world did Sakura enjoy this job so much? As soon as Ino was eligible to take the Chunin exams again, she willingly did so. And although she was not Jounin level like the rest of her male colleagues, her skill at medicine was nothing to be ignored.

Ino turned the knob and opened the door disregarding the way it creaked loudly. The figure continued to sleep soundly, she watched as his chest raised and lowered gently. An eyebrow arched as she finally came into a conclusion that there in the far end of the room was Naruto Uzumaki. She felt the sudden need to march back out into the hallway.

No, bolt.

….Okay, so it's been a few years since she last saw him. So what? Uzumaki was, in the words of Shikamaru, troublesome. She will forever remember him as the loud pre-teen back in the days of her childhood. Why couldn't Sakura take him, she thought bitterly, after all they were practically _best friends_ were they not?

She peered down, attempting to read off the rest of the printed sheet of paper. But, there lay nothing but his name, age and drabble of that like. Nothing important like, say, illness?

As she approached the sleeping Naruto, she reflected on just how unusual it was to see him so peaceful in his sleep. But that did little to convince her, she knew deep down he was still as hyperactive as always. She then, reluctantly, brushed her palm under his forehead, hoping to find a fever.

That contact was alone to have him a bit startled; after all, he was a pretty light sleeper. Confused azure eyes pierced open as Naruto quickly pushed against whatever it was that was touching him. He sat up; 

feeling rather hot as he peered down to see himself bundled in pallid blankets. What? He thought. He could have sworn he was definitely not here just a minute ago…

Before he could utter any words of protest a thermometer was shoved into his mouth. He blinked, deciding that she was definitely not Sakura. He was quite accustomed to having been treated by Sakura, so having this other young woman in front of him was more than peculiar. Blinking again, he wordlessly observed her, his eyes darting in her direction. She was blonde, that was painfully obvious. "What?" he blurted out, dumbly.

"No fever," she appeared unfazed, pulling out the thermometer with a yank. She shook the rod in front of her, a frown forming on her face. "Nevermind. 105." she shrugged to herself, tossing the plastic thermometer into the trashcan behind her.

Naruto found it to be strange, the way her eyes were fixated on him. Her expression was unreadable but by no means was it friendly. He studied her glare, switching from the way her left eyebrow wrinkled, to the way her mouth curved into a slight grimace. Before Naruto could study her face much longer, she suddenly snapped at him,

"What?" she questioned, with a dash of irritation. Without a second thought, she quickly spun herself around, suddenly finding interest in the panoramic view of Konoha from outside the window. Her palms pressed against the sill as she leaned onto the ledge of the window.

Finding the silence too stressful to cope, Naruto chuckled, it was but the only natural reaction he could dispel in this sort of situation. Instead of asking the evident, he did quite the opposite and remained composed, "Tell it to me straight, doc, will I live?" he bit back a playful grin. 

Sakura always told him off with questions of that like.

"Maybe" Ino responded flatly, without a flinch. 

Suddenly, Naruto became defensive, "Gee, I'd expect a more optimistic answer from a nurse…" he blurted out.

He then became aware with the way her shoulders dropped and shuddered unexpectedly. 

"Oh? Well, my condolences, Uzumaki." She finally spun around, taking a step forward. The document enveloped in her hand was now rolled with negligence, "No identified illness? Figures…." She mumbled bitterly.

Ino could easily trace the wicked smile on Sakura's face right at this moment._Right,_ she thought, _give me something unbelievably time consuming on the last few days I'm staying here. That makes but perfect sense! Oh Sakura, how I should have known…._

Naruto couldn't understand the way her face contorted with each passing moment, but he figured that it wasn't anything pleasant running through her mind.

Unidentified illnesses were ordinary, especially in this hospital. Most of the illnesses, at least nine out of ten that Ino's treated, always resulted from environments outside of Konoha, say something a patient shouldn't have eaten, extreme use of chakra, some form of poison from another hidden village….

Now that was interesting. To be honest she got a kick out of things like this only it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Besides the idea of being somewhere else at this moment was much more appealing.

"…Ino?" Naruto blurted out, he was a bit confused by the way she changed expressions with each passing moment.

"What?" she asked, this time with much disdain. She narrowed her eyes at him, closing her mouth in a scowl.

"No, really," he smiled, "That's quite attractive." A snort was followed afterwards.

Now while she could have asked him (or herself) just where exactly she had heard that before she did just the contrary and only sighed.

Although it could not be explained, she felt herself suddenly becoming a bit composed as she answered, "It's just been a long day."

_Explanation? As if he needed any._

But before she could pull out some sort of subsequent retort, she watched him nod and agree with her. And if that weren't strange enough, she felt that scowl once wedged onto her face now disappear into a smile.

_Idiot_. And with that passing thought, she decided to tread heavily out of his hospital room despite the fact that it she didn't even make any attempts at diagnosing his illness.


	2. Chapter 2: Touch

A/N: Stupid website, why doesn't the document come up exactly how I wrote it? -.- But on a good note, thank you guys for all your support!

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Chapter 2:

_Please, please, please, please…_Ino thought mindlessly with each hard breath. She heaved and swallowed as much air as she possibly could, feeling a bit stifled with the lack of air. Her legs took long fleeting strides as her arms pumped for better acceleration. No matter how much she tried, however, she always felt that she was not fast enough.

It was about 8:20 A.M, or to be exact, 8:20 A.M was about the last time Ino stole a glance at her alarm clock, which had failed her this very morning. And so, with her blinding speed, or lack of, she wrecked her small apartment room while swinging cabinets and closet doors in search of food and clothing.

So now, she was unshowered and drenched with sweat, how attractive.

'_Ew…_' she suddenly scolded herself for quoting _that guy_.

Finally, the roadways ahead were becoming memorable. The hospital was only less than a mile away. She knew that she was in trouble because Tsunade-sama always got on her case for tardiness. As much as she tried to console herself, _only a few more days_ was not as calming as it was the day before.

She tried with much difficulty not to trip over the flight of stairs that lead to the hospital, but breathing thinking and running were never a good equation. Still she ran, her coral pink messenger bag swinging side to side behind her.

When she finally made her way to the reception's desk she felt herself grow heavy at the sight of Sakura casually flipping through a magazine behind the counter. She practically crashed against said counter, her palms smacking a foot apart beside the wooden surface.

"…Made it!..." she said in between huffs. She swallowed at the cold, sweet air, very pleased to note that the hospital always had air conditioning pumping.

"…About an hour late…" Sakura added, rather carelessly. Her eyes remained fixed onto the magazine as she licked her tongue to flip through the next page. Ino faltered.

"Oh, don't look so concerned…" Ino inhaled through clenched teeth. She quickly lifted her head to shoot Sakura a look full of disdain.

"I'm not," Sakura chuckled, before adding, "neither should you, Tsunade-sama isn't here today. You lucked out."

Ino suddenly stood erect, blinking a few times in order to register her friend's statement. "R-Really?" she stuttered, a goofy grin plastered onto her mouth.

"Right."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Ino raised an arm for emphasis, quickly turning on her heel. "Well, I guess I'll see you—"

"Wrong."

"What?" Ino glanced over her shoulder, the rouge under her cheeks slightly fading.

"Well guess who she left in charge for a day?" Sakura grinned, rather evilly.

Ino paused in her tracks registering what Sakura had said and how that could apply to her.

"Me?" She faked a smile.

* * *

It was the piercing crack of doctor utensils clattering against the metal pan that had him shooting forward into a sitting position. He felt his body quaver from shock as his eyes darted towards the offending racket. It came from the tray in the pushcart that was settled a few feet from his patient bed. Yet, it was the sight of Ino only a few inches away that had him yelping with surprise. "—What?" he asked, inspecting the particular object that gleamed against fluorescent light in Ino's right hand. It was fairly oval-shaped, with a sharp needle for the tip.

Wait.

Such a reaction called for Ino's flawless timing as she placed pressure onto the pump, causing some unidentifiable liquid to spew out in small droplets. Ino could have smirked at the sight of Naruto's face turning to a strange shade of pastel.

"W-what is that?" he asked, dumbly. His attention was completely fixated on the sight of the syringe being settled against the pushcart beside Ino.

His question went ignored as Ino turned toward the pushcart for a few other things. He bit his lip at the sight of the band of rubber and the packet of alcohol.

"What are you, squeamish?" With an eye roll Ino coiled her fingers onto the palm of his hand pulling it closer for further inspection.

Naruto sucked in clenched teeth as his body shuddered. Ino tossed him an icy glare as he chuckled nervously,

"No, your hand is a little cold…" he mumbled, smiling nervously.

Ino tugged at his sleeve pulling the fabric upwards, above his elbow. Amidst the sandy brown hue of skin there lay a slight bulge of a vein. The sight of that had Naruto quickly looking away. "Are you really that afraid?"

"I just don't see why anyone would willingly make themselves bleed…"

She laughed at his protest but continued nonetheless. "You bleed every single day, even from the slight scratch of a kunai. Something like a simple needle shouldn't bother you."

"Just be gentle, will ya?"

Ino exhaled air she didn't know she was holding in. When she finally wrapped the rubber around his arm she contended, "It's for immunity, Naruto, and it isn't the only one I'm going to be giving you today."

"What?!" He faced her with a panicked stare.

And if he didn't know any better, he would say that she was enjoying his distress. But he knew deep in his hearts of hearts that even though he didn't know Ino that well she was just being completely gentle with him, right?

Right?

At that very moment he took the time to focus entirely on her face and how there lay a hint of a violet hue underneath her bottom eyelids. How he did not recognize that anytime before was a shock. But as he lay in his observation, he didn't take note of the needle pricking into his skin. He could have cried out in shock but instead he continued to gaze at that particular area.

His thinking was interrupted with Ino leaning rather close to his face. "Now was that so bad?" she asked, the ends of her lips curling into a gentle smile.

But before she could pull away he allowed his index finger to skim against the delicate spot he was so focused on, without a second thought. Ino flinched while a squeal she's never heard before escaped from her throat, echoing against the four walls that surrounded them. She blinked, finding herself glide her own cold finger beside said area.

"What?" She cried out defensively, baring her teeth in his direction.

"Nothing—"he eyed the two tubes filled with fluid so maroon it had him fidgeting on his bed. "Just, erm…" he swallowed at the warm saliva accumulating in the midst of his mouth. What tempted him to touch her like that? He was only curious; he only wanted to see, but to touch? He really had no explanation here.

Ino ignored the blush that crept onto the bridge of Naruto's nose, spreading slowly like an inkblot. Only she pressed on with her gaze, this time more out of interest than out of anger.

He stammered, "W-well, ya see, I was wondering…you don't get much sleep do you?"

Ino glowered at him, looking more like a pout than a defense. "I sleep…" she mumbled to herself.

Just not the regular eight hours, she_ forgot_ to mention.

She stuffed the two tubes of blood into the Ziploc bag, careful to exchange a few cautious glances back at the young man settled on the bed. "Are you even comfortable on that?"

Naruto sucked in his teeth, "No, I've been here for too long. But Tsunade really thinks I've caught a sort of virus or something."

"You look fine to me." She blurted out, startled at her sudden outburst. But she knew better, looks are deceiving, one of Tsunade-sama's principle teachings.

The blush on his face seemed to spike again, but only momentarily. "I can't regenerate my chakra as fast as before," he spoke calmly, "and it started with my last mission so I guess Tsunade is only looking out for me."

Ino took a moment to wonder why in the world she was _asking_ him these questions, meddling in his business as though they were friends.

Naruto made note of the way her frown contorted on her lips, but thought it best not to ask.

He suddenly found himself in the conversing mood. He spoke first after a short period of silence, "Ino you were right," A smile graced his features, "it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

There came a little trickle of warmth that filtered its way into Ino's belly as she flushed.

She couldn't explain it and she didn't like it.

It was then that Ino clutched the Ziploc back against her side, walking out of the room in a brash manner, trying her best to keep up with the pace of her heartbeat that had slightly accelerated.


	3. Chapter 3: Faux Fear

Chapter 3:

As soon as she made it to the building this morning Ino was greeted with a Sakura that was nowhere near vigilant. She pulled the strap of her messenger bag, hearing it plop down onto the ground with a faint thud. Before she could even greet her friend however, Sakura was the first to speak,

"What a surprise, you're on time…?" she glanced forward from her usual post at the reception desk, taking in the image of Ino casually walking towards her.

Ino disregarded her sarcasm. "Gee Sakura you look a bit out of it. " Out of it indeed for a young woman who took a lot of effort in looking quite professional, Sakura appeared rather worn out. Her short rosy locks were a bit mussed with a few strands partially covering her face.

"Really?" Sakura cocked an eyebrow, exaggerating her question as she downright smirked at Ino. "Why I haven't noticed at all…"

Ino suppressed an eye roll and instead chose to sigh rather loudly. "Your sarcasm is most enjoyable, especially this early in the morning." She muttered in a tone loud enough for her friend to hear.

"You think this is easy?!" Sakura practically pounded her fist onto the counter. Then suddenly a playful look flickered passed her stare as she cocked her head to the side, perking up her posture. "Oh, right. I forgot. Naruto is under _your_ care." Her smile matched her wicked gaze.

Ino flinched at that sudden turnabout in attitude. "What do you mean by that exactly?" she asked meekly.

-- --

Ino gritted her teeth hearing it grind in her head. Bright blue eyes darted from one end of the hall to the other. It has been over an hour strolling into random doors and halls in the enormous hospital and she had yet to find even a trace of Uzumaki.

Sakura, ever the thoughtful one, had implanted a task upon Ino. Not because Tsunade was out, oh no, only because in Sakura's wild perspective Naruto was solely Ino's responsibility. The fact that he had gone missing is not only a danger to all the patients currently residing in the hospital but _most_ importantly if Ino couldn't get Naruto back to his bed before Tsunade checked in, well…

She shuddered, going rigid at the thought of Tsunade-sama's temper.

"Uzumaki, where are you?" she paused, feeling the ache in her ankles of all the pacing she's been doing for the past hour. She eyed the end of the hallway and found the Café sign to be rather appealing; it flickered in its neon lights in a teasing manner. Come hither, it beckoned. If that were not enough to convince her that she was hungry the low growl that erupted from the pit of her stomach only exemplified it.

Except, as she slowly fiddled with the change in her pocket and mentally counted the scrunched dollar bills in the midst of her pocket, she heard a faint sound of something being toppled over behind the closed stairway to her right. It was muffled and it definitely was something.

Uzumaki, the thought suddenly sprang into her mind. A frown formed on her face as she approached the heavy door, fingers clinging tightly around the door knob before she opened it with a swift twist and push of the handle. Upstairs lead to the hallways of rooms she has already checked while downstairs lead to the storage basement. She sighed as she went downstairs, finding it strange that the door to the basement at the end of the flight of steps was flung open and exposed a void of darkness.

There came another crash of noise followed by a muffled curse, though much clearer than before.

_Honestly Naruto, how obvious can you be?_ There was another round of Ino gritting her teeth together as she stepped into the basement floor.

The room was dark, no doubt. But when her fingers felt for the light switch and turned the handle towards the ceiling she was surprised to find no changes. _Figures, this is but my amazing luck!_

The next step forward was definitely not as confident as the last. Ideas from every sort of direction came crashing into her intellect as she reached her hands out to scope her surroundings.

_You're an idiot, why would you do this? _

_Do you even know if Naruto is here or not? _

_What if he's not? _

_What if it's someone else…or _something _else…? _

She swallowed at the saliva that was beginning to tickle the back of her esophagus. Her legs felt light but the steps forward weren't as easy as before. The door was miles away, including that useless source of dim lighting the stairway had with it.

It certainly was not silly to think of all the ways she could die right about now. Because the dark void of evil was a calling she did not take. Oh boy, it sure was an enchanting idea to step inside this room, it made but perfect sense! Alas, she would find exactly who she was looking for—or, be eaten by an unknown giant. And her body would never be found.

From the far end of the basement there came another thud of an object toppling over, followed by a murmur. "Naruto, I know it's you, what the hell you're doing here?!" she suddenly cried out, wary at the echo of her own fearful voice.

The footsteps she heard had ceased and that thought alone had her slightly trembling with fear. Indeed, this was just the time to dwell in the thoughts of her complete abhor for the dark.

She stepped forward again, swearing that she was getting closer. But it was funny how different the world was once a primary sense was taken, such as vision. With that ounce of irritation and a gallon of 

fear she shouted, "Hey! You're an idiot by the way; I'm only here to help! Why don't you just tell me you're here—? "

A brief pressure on her shoulder practically had her in mid gasp. She was but too frightened to scream. There was nothing like being startled when you're already scared because at this point Ino was close to fainting. Her body went rigid followed by that sick warm twinge of fear igniting her senses.

"Hey," It was _that_ guy of course, the fear that she once had was now loaded with anger.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!!" She turned and pushed at the source of the voice she heard, happy to note that she was met with a broad chest to release all of her proper rage on.

There was a laugh as she felt him approach her once again. "I guess I deserve that." Even in the dark she could illustrate that smile of satisfaction on his face and oh how she wanted to beat him over the head for it.

"What the hell are you doing—"

"Alright, don't yell so loud, I'm right here!" There was a clasp of her arm and she flinched at the feeling of warm hands. "I just needed to get up and do something besides lay in the hospital bed."

"Oh, right!" she laughed, before scowling, "because this right here, in this dark, is the finest place to be. I should have known better than to search for hours on end in all the other rooms, what was I thinking?"

"Not exactly, I was exploring and I ended up here before the lights went out- which was not very long ago." She heard him chuckle.

"Everyone's been looking for you, y'know, even Sakura."

"Oh but she's already used to me wandering off, I think I'm just giving her actual work to do." He snickered. She actually found herself amused from that joke of his. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

There was another warm twinge that coiled in her stomach, but it was only the after effect of fear. Nothing else.

Right?

"But y'know, I heard something while I was down here-" there was an actual explanation following this statement but that went entirely ignored. And no, Ino did not intentionally grab onto Naruto's palm, she simply did not reach his arm the way she had calculated. It was dark, okay? Still, there was another escalation of fear that overlooked any sense of what she did as she said,

"Let's get the hell out of here, okay?"

Again, it was as though she could feel that stupid aloof smile of his spreading on his face. Bastard.

It was only right that at this point she thought of all the sick horror movies she let herself endure in the past month. _Fucking movies_, she cursed, _and Sakura for letting me put up with the late night movie-fests and feeding into this fear. Why in the world would anyone watch a scary movie_ she thought madly as she let Naruto lead her forwards with the hold of a hand, _who in the right mind enjoys those things?_ _Blood, guts, people dying, people being eaten, it made no sense, especially now when the basement was the perfect scene for death…_

Naruto took note of the way she pressed her fingers onto his knuckles and the way that pressure seemed to be squeezed with much force every so often. But he didn't mind, actually he thought it was nice to find that her hand wasn't as cold as the day before.

As soon as he figured his way out of the basement, after a medley of bumping into random surfaces, of having Ino smack into him from behind, of having to deal with her cusses and rants he finally made it out of the basement.

And if the light at the end of the tunnel scenario wasn't enticing enough, he found that as soon as they reached the stair Ino swiftly released her grip of their linked hands. It was a wordless gesture.

Strangely, the sudden feel of cool air passing through his fingers had him a bit taken a back, maybe just because she so easily pulled away and he couldn't figure why. He couldn't figure why he wanted to question it, but like something that was to starting to become a dirty habit, he didn't and followed her up the stairs anyway.


	4. Chapter 4: Real Close

A/N: Um was this even funny? Long chapter, be grateful!

Chapter 4:

She had to admit, there _was_ that warm feeling.

It started from the center of her chest, trickled in a warm slick line towards the midst of her tummy. Once there it danced and unfastened itself like an inkblot. It was slow but very sensitive. And worst of all, she couldn't find herself ignoring it.

And that was just a touch.

When they finally got out of the basement the sight of their linked hands had another jolt of sensation drive at her nerves. It was simply too much, and only because she had_ that_ sense of flawless memory, she could recall practically yanking her hand away and ripping her fingers off of his grasp.

Oh, but was it an absolutepain to have that awkward scenario play over and over in her mind, especially when she was trying to get something to eat. Her appetite has been deteriorating ever since, not even the sight of her favorite junk food has been enticing lately.

Ugh. With that grain of absolute thought in mind Ino grabbed a hold of the medical analysis paper she received earlier. It crumpled slightly in her hand but she ignored it. After, Ino frowned eyes scanning over the sheet of paper one last time. That damn medical analysis paper said the exact same thing, only in different letterings,

_Lack of chakra, erratic chakra distribution, sporadic dispersal of chakra…_only to name a few.

It was all the same bs to her, bottom line was that Naruto's chakra was imbalanced which could definitely explain all that slag in regenerating his energy. So from all that wonderful analysis, she came to the conclusion that the idiot was simply poisoned and nothing more. She had to open his chakra channels and keep them that way, which meant medicine and all those wonderful needles.

She sighed as she glanced down at her hands, feeling a pinch in her palm. She raised an eyebrow, staring down at the paper in its entire creased and crinkled state. A sudden frown sprang on her lips as she lifted the paper for further inspection.

_He's not even here and he still bothers me._

She felt her shoulders tense as that idea suddenly flickered into thought. As foul as that idea was, it quickly passed her mind as she propelled herself forward into the swinging doors that lead to the hallway, exerting as much force as she possibly could at that moment and content to feel herself relax. Actually, the only way to get out of it was to keep her body occupied.

Suddenly, anything that held a rigid form became a venue of stress relieving. Ino banged her fist against the firm walls of the hallway, going against some form of beat that she insisted on whistling along to. Her free hand was reduced to simple flicking of the fingernails as her eyes wandered to the tiled ceiling.

It was silly to behave this way but Ino always believed in keeping a busy mind, there would be no questions when she was too busy making beautiful music with simple taps and banging on the wall. At the time she didn't realize just how many residents overheard her incessant thumps from the other side of the wall, but that was an entirely different matter.

After five full minutes of busying herself, she suddenly paused when she reached the end of the hall and towards the door of a patient she was getting to know _oh so_ well. Her fingers clenched against the doorknob and with a small twist and jerk she pushed herself into Uzumaki's room.

Eyes instinctively darted towards the opposing side of the room, towards an empty twin sized patient bed. She raised a curious eyebrow as a shot of wonder filled her senses, not to mention that minor sense of disappointment she decided to brush aside.

_Where-?..._ At that quick notion she set her arms to her sides as she gave the room a swift once-over. There was nothing peculiar that attracted itself to her but that was to be expected. The window to the side was left ajar, allowing a small breeze to press itself into the room. The curtains fluttered softly against its cool waft of air. Ino pushed most of her weight onto one leg as she leaned against a wall. With a prompt jerk of her leg she gave the door behind her a little kick as it closed gently behind her. Her eyes darted from one side to the room towards the other as she allowed silence to linger.

_Who is he kidding?_

The scenery was much too pleasant to accept its emptiness. It would be much too perfect for her to think that he wasn't in here; in fact she was beginning to believe that he would want her to think just like that. A grin suddenly plastered her lips, if only for a second until she replaced it with a bitter frown.

"Geez, that Uzumaki…" she trialed off, tip toeing her way towards the bed in careful steps. She focused on the empty space underneath as she continued, "…what a pain and a pest I don't think I can stand him much longer…" she stressed her words, fingers quietly latching onto a pillow. She held back a laugh while she clutched the end of the blanket.

He was so rash to have hidden under the bed. It was but a rookie move, quite juvenile. Certainly she was not that dense, she felt his chakra the moment she stepped into the room. His chakra was obviously suppressed but he wasn't very skilled in completely hiding his energy, she figures.

"Dummy!" came her cry. She pulled at the blanket and chucked the pillow into the void of darkness that was under the bed. What followed afterward was a boost of self assurance with a pinch of arrogance. Ino found herself simply too engulfed in her magnificent scheming she stood erect once more and placed her hands firmly against each side of her hips. A proud laugh echoed inside that tiny room as she threw her head back in satisfaction.

All other thoughts aside she actually settled on the idea that this was fun; this was amusing in its own right and she should enjoy her clever thinking.

Ino expected Naruto to crawl out the other side, rubbing the side of his head with some sort of squirmed expression fixated on his features. She half expected him to whine a bit before throwing that pillow in her direction.

But after she had finished in her playful laughter filled with spite she was surprised to find herself unscathed and standing. Her breathing accelerated.

"Hey, okay…come out now, I've had my share of fun." She stated with a swift eye roll. Without so much as a thought she bent down and peered under the bed in her curious search. Upon further inspection she found that it was bare with not so much as a layer of dust coating the surface of its floor.

Too bad curiosity could not stop those blasted dust bunnies from attacking the cotton fabric of her white skirt. Dress code policy or not now became the time to rant about nurse outfits and the like.

She groaned, lifting herself off of the cold tiled floor. One glance down at the hem of her skirt and she cursed. Suddenly all that useless energy spent on laughter and smiles was replaced with groans and a spike of irritation. As tempting as it was to dwell on her anger Ino never had the chance to leave the room. When she finally perked her head up to face the direction of the door she was met with a pair of bright blue orbs staring in her direction. It held her gaze, those pair of brilliantly blue eyes and she found herself stuck. There was a smile on that face but that too was ignored when she recoiled with a shout of surprise.

"What-?!"

"Not so clever, are we?" He replied rather smugly. That grin of his grew as he folded his arms.

_Too close_. She took a step backward as she lifted her chin to examine his oh so proud stature. It was only inches away where he stood upside down, arms folded ever so proudly with a smirk to match. Chakra had kept his socked feet attached to the ceiling above her, she concluded with a heavy sigh.

"Neither are you. You're just as childish." A frown curled her lip. _Wait a minute…brilliant? Brilliantly blue, Ino?-_

"Aha!" He shouted, cracking her concentration. As a token of gratitude he shot her another one of his smiles. From what Ino observed it appeared that he practically lit up at that moment as he stood in front of her and wagged that incessant finger in her direction. There came no end to his liveliness.

"'_Just as childish'_? As in you're just as childish as I am!" She watched him clasp his eyelids shut, nodding off as though he made perfect sense, which he didn't.

"…" she gritted her teeth.

He could have kept at it with his pestering but suddenly realized that there was something quite different about the girl that stood in front of him this morning. He expected the usual high pony tail of hers that held her hair in a tie on the crown of her head, there was none. Instead, this very morning Ino had her blonde hair straightened and parted to the side. Today a few bangs covered a portion of her eye whilst the rest lay at the sides of her face. It was feminine and girly-not unlike her but unusual nonetheless. It was the first time he became aware of the length of blonde hair that ended at Ino's waist.

It was Ino's turn to ponder over that slight change in facial expression; fortunately it was not very long as Ino quickly ran out of her patience, "What?" she asked flatly.

Another one of his smiles was now plastered on his face and before she knew it he brushed his hand against the bangs from her forehead.

He could have sworn, honestly, that he had said something soothing something comforting something along the lines of _Ino, you're pretty today _but there came a disparity between what he thought and what he actually said because suddenly he found himself blurting,

"You actually look like a girl today, what a surprise!"

Did she actually slap him at that very moment? She couldn't recall. But she wanted to, like hell she did. Unfortunately someone interrupted her chance at doing it because suddenly a voice was heard from behind.

"Naruto what are you doing up there??" Naruto instinctively glanced over his shoulder to meet Sakura's curious stare from afar. She stood leaning against the door at the end of the room, hand still clutched against the doorknob as an amused expression graced her features.

A nervous laugh was all he could muster afterward. "Well uh-ya know…hanging around?"

Ino mentally flinched at that stupid, stupid, _stupid_ pun. She could only pass Sakura an apologetic stare. _I'm sorry for Naruto's stupidity, _it said. As satisfying as it may have been to see him struggle like that she wasn't completely off the hook for having him stand there either. She couldn't help but recall Sakura's helpful advice the day before on responsibility and how Ino took all the blame when it came to Naruto…

What was Sakura implying by that, anyway? It wasn't as if the guy was under her sole custody or anything. They were all old enough to think for themselves were they not?

Sakura's laugh had Ino come back to her senses. "Right." Sakura nodded, "Naruto, don't over do it with the fooling around. Take care of yourself, will ya? You've been here one too many times…."

He chuckled sheepishly as he agreed with her. Ino glanced from one person to the other as she watched them chat idly for a moment or so. It wasn't until Naruto did an about face in her direction a few minutes later that she found herself breaking from a daydream. "What?" she asked again, still befuddled by her lack of concentration.

Sakura giggled as she waved nonsensically at the two of them. Apparently there was a joke that had been mixed in between conversation that Ino never had the chance to pick up but that thought quickly left her. It was the sound of the door clicking into a close that had her truly breaking from the already forgotten daydream.

"Well she just asked if I had…" he ran a swift palm into his hair full of golden locks as he spoke rather casually. He meant to tell her the now debunked joke but was suddenly caught off guard with the sudden sensation of release. It seemed as though his chakra had conspired against him and had decided to cease from all existence as it suddenly stopped gripping itself to the ceiling.

Though Naruto never engrossed himself into these silly thought he reacted with the sense of falling as diligently as any ill fated, quick thinking person could; by yelping as high and as loud as he possibly could. Gravity had taken its course and within moments he found himself colliding against Ino in an upside down (or right side up) crash. He heard a scream that once rivaled his from underneath and the sudden feel of vibration had his nerves twitching. Placing both palms on either side of Ino he lifted himself an inch against gravity. In such obvious stupor he felt the room twirl for a second and watched for the hint of rouge to manifest above the bridge of Ino's nose.

Ino simply stared, convinced that blinking would eventually solve the problem of being so close, so unnecessarily close. To Ino, silence became the next best step. In such an unusual manner Ino was now dumbfounded and was left to transfix her stare into the eyes that were only inches away.

Her stare was blank and held no absolute expression. Naruto flinched at the thought of his inability to register her expression, _why oh why_ he thought in such daze as he felt the repulsive feeling of guilt filter its way into his senses. He automatically pressed his palm onto the side of Ino's warm face, coating her flushed cheeks with his fingertips.

Fear and guilt were two distinct and perpetually awful emotions.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." he blurted out in utter sincerity. He found his body pressing against hers but that thought was immediately discarded. He wanted to rid of that vacant look in her eyes, minus the blush. He suddenly regretted acting out a second ago.

"What?" she asked one last time, squeezing her eyelids shut. She then fought against his grasp, to look away but gave up after a moment or so. There also came a weak attempt to push his weight off of her but that idea was also renounced.

There was that distinct smell of store brand hospital soap that seemed to impose itself in her senses. She always hated to have to wash her hands with it every now and then, but this time in this silly situation she thought it was fitting to have to inhale that artificial scent of lavender. She didn't hate it as much anymore.

It was sort of on a whim because at the moment it seemed relevant but Naruto did something he didn't think he ever could. He felt awkward on top of all those other lovely things he had swirling in his abdomen and while he had to deal with this graceless moment he simply also had to act on impulse. The sudden flicker of uneasiness flashing through Ino's light eyes had him a bit captivated with the idea of _making it go away_.

He just couldn't have her feeling that way, no matter how petty it was. So he kissed her forehead, combing away her long bangs with his free hand, pressing his closed lips against the surface of her soft skin.

He felt stupid no doubt but once he pulled back he was more than surprised to find that she didn't drive her fist into his jaw, instead she tossed him a vivid stare-a completely perplexed stare but it was vivid indeed.

He didn't feel so stupid anymore.


End file.
